Simpler Days
by heartachequisition
Summary: Sometimes, the busy world needs to slow down a little. Sometimes, the future can wait. A collection of happy one-shots surrounding the Mekakushi Dan and their shenanigans.
1. Winter Days

'It's too cold' was the initial excuse, fair enough as the snow began to pile in the winter time and the Mekakushi Dan had slowed their activities and migrated indoors to tend to their members more sensitive to the cold.

Mostly this was Marry (who practically stole Seto's body heat anyway) and Kano (who had too become more clingy to whoever was closest), but Kido didn't want to risk any of the others getting sick so they were simply made to stay inside.

Staying inside all day often led to the dan playing games together, or watching movies and more often than not, falling asleep with each other with no intention of going home. Today was a movie night - Momo's turn to pick - and Konoha was on kitchen duty to help Kido, who didn't trust the boy to cook on his own without breaking anything.

Momo had showed up waving a comedic horror movie this time: "It'll be fun!" She chirped happily, fully aware of Kido stiffening, Shintaro face palming and Hibiya groaning loudly at her choice in movie.

Kano, bundled up in winter gear, high-fived her before curling up on the couch - cold, even indoors. Marry soon joined him, and they penguin huddled until Seto passed by and they both captured him so he sat in the middle, trapped.

"Really, Aunty, we have to deal with your weird taste in movies again?" Hibiya grumbled, squatting beside the older girl as she tried to work with the DVD player she wasn't used to using.

"It's not weird, it's unique." She shot back with a grin. "You'll like this one, I promise."

Ene popped up in the TV screen, waving at the two. "This is Mekakushi bonding time, Hibiya! You're not allowed to protest~!"

Outnumbered, Hibiya just sighed and headed to the couch where Shintaro sat, secretly happy someone shared the same view as him but also secretly grateful for said winter 'Mekakushi bonding time'. It got awfully lonely by himself, and in those times, his thoughts would wander to Hiyori and that did his brain absolutely no favours at all.

They had been efficient that night, Konoha and Kido in the kitchen, Konoha perhaps co-operating because his favourite dish was in process and Kido just didn't care what they chose to make as long as none of the pickiest eaters - Kano again, and sometimes Hibiya - would be dissatisfied and not eat. Whipping up food for eight was no problem with Konoha helping; he was strong, tall and quick, always there to pass her what she needed.

"You okay, Konoha?" Kido glanced at him, the albino seeming to space out in the corner.

He nodded slowly, voice even and calm as he spoke, "Thinking... do you need the salt?"

Kido shrugged, "Pass it to me." It was hurled across the room, and she only barely caught it.

She was happy though, working with Konoha, because he was as much a dan member as anyone else and she treasured them all so, even if she didn't say it.

"We'll be done in a few minutes, you can head back out and relax with the others." She smiled slightly, the corners of her mouth quirking upwards. The male nodded again and trudged out, taking a seat between Hibiya and Shintaro, "It'll be done soon." He informed them quietly.

The two instantly engaged him in conversation, Ene squealing about the most random things in Shintaro's phone to try and embarrass him every once in a while.

Momo had finally gotten the DVD working, after multiple slaps to the electronic and faceplants on top of it, but happily jumped up to help Kido when she noticed her coming out with the food. Kido nodded gratefully at her as the idol emerged from the kitchen holding multiple plates of barbecued meat and various other things at once - Momo's strength never failed to amaze her.

They dragged a second table in next to the coffee table to accommodate all the dishes, as it was apparent nobody wanted to move. Seto moved to help, but the two clinging onto him prevented him from going anywhere so he just smiled apologetically to Kido and Momo, who smiled back.

"Momo, could you grab the blankets in the cupboard? It looks like we might be needing them." The girl beamed at Kido knowingly before dashing off and returning with every blanket in the house. She draped the first over Marry's head, the second on top of Kano, Seto shared the two while Kido grabbed a big one for Shintaro, Konoha and Hibiya, and she and Momo shared one together once they had settled everyone else in. Ene was perched on the table, providing cheerful commentary as the others ate - as if she was watching wild animals.

"Be quiet." Shintaro had swatted at her, but the cyber girl retaliated and started blasting virtual pop songs and happy Disney tunes to lift the atmosphere. Ene also had fun analysing how they ate while Shintaro tried to put his phone on mute.

Kido ate cleanly, precisely, with all the right mannerisms - like that of a prestigious school girl - but stabbed her meat brutally as well. It was cute. Though Ene didn't dare say that out loud.

Seto ate mostly in large portions but it seemed like he was simply too lazy to cut it up so he just ate it as it was, and Kano was the same, only he'd spit out anything he didn't appear to like. The two ate rather messily, but managed to keep most of their food on their respective plates.

Marry ate in the smallest portions possible, cutting her food up delicately - Ene giggled when she saw the girl cutting up a single pea - and notably she ate mostly vegetables, for she was probably more used to them than meat. "Forest." Was all Marry had replied with.

Momo simply ate a lot and very quickly too, so it was difficult to say really how she ate - just very fast, as if she had to rush to finish and do something else. "Her job," Shintaro had answered, "She can only have short meals so she eats really quickly."

"That, and she's a pig." Hibiya had snorted, gaining a glare from the idol but nothing else.

'Peace.' She had stared Hibiya down until he stopped sneering and went back to his food.

Shintaro though, ate just about as quickly as his sister, despite having absolutely nothing to be in a hurry for.

"You look like a lawnmower!" Ene chirped teasingly. "Om nom nom nom nom!"

Hibiya just ate like he was really angry, and 'similar to a ravaging lion' was how Momo had described him.

"Hibiya, at least try and eat like you're not about to murder someone." Kano drawled from his ball on the couch.

"You'll be next." The young boy had grumbled, skewering the meat.

Konoha literally did not even seem to swallow his food, he simply kept shoving it into his mouth to the point where Kido had to tell him to slow down.

Momo, having finished first, popped on the movie which started with a scene of dripping ooze. She giggled and rolled around as it started to morph into some grotesque creature.

"Oh my god Momo, we're trying to eat here!" Her brother shouted, shielding his eyes from the screen.

Hibiya frowned. "What is this even rated?"

Marry instantly dove into Seto's lap, as a resounding scream echoed from the TV. "Oh no..." She was never one for movies, and the loud sounds were harsh on her sensitive ears.

Kano started laughing, though he too buried his face into Seto's shoulder, practically sliding off the couch to do so.

"It's kinda cute!" Seto had commented, as the creature crawled around the screen. He patted the two taking refuge on him.

"It's adorable!" Momo grinned, Kido seeming to have frozen stiff on her chair.

"A little odd..." Marry had added, without looking at the screen though her hair wiggled from behind her.

The movie was actually plain torturous. The idol was renowned for worst taste in movies but this one definitely took the cake.

Shintaro had conked out several times from shock at how shockingly bad this movie was and it was a surprise he was still breathing. At around the fifth murder, Kano started to creep everyone out with a fit of evil cackles every few minutes.

"Kano, shut up!" Kido had half a mind to slap him only she was on the other side of the room and opted for throwing her shoe at him instead. Which unfortunately missed.

Marry fell asleep in Seto's lap to the sounds of running water in the film, and he too fell asleep soon after; head lolling back on the sofa cushions, exhausted.

Kano had been forcibly removed from them by Momo on Kido's orders and the deceiver was made to sit next to her so she could keep him out of trouble.

He prodded her, "Hey Kido. Kido, hey Kido. Kido, guess what? Kido, hey. You scared, danchou? Hey Kido-" Until she got infuriated and tossed him over the back of the couch.

After a second, she realised he was out cold and gently dropped a blanket over him and smiled.

"Stupid person needs to stop going into abandoned buildings and hightail home before they get killed!" Hibiya was the most annoying person to watch movies with because he pointed out every single flaw. "Look, and there's the reflection of the camera, as if you wouldn't notice that, ugh."

"Shh, I'm trying to listen!" Ene interrupted, though he kept going.

"And why would you open your door at midnight? Clearly a mass murderer is outside that door, you idiot, you didn't even check beforehand!"

"Hibiya..." Konoha patted him in an attempt to quiet the complaints.

"No, no, no, don't you see? See that shadow over there? It's deadly. Don't cross the road, idiot kid, you're going to die!"

Shintaro had long passed out by then from Hibiya's frantic ranting as he was jabbed in the stomach when the young boy got too enthusiastic. Konoha glanced at the others nervously as he constantly attempted to silence his companion. "No, see, that was stupid. He could have taken the safe way but he walked right into that! He deserved it!"

Eventually, his ranting had caused Momo to lose her initial excitement and she curled up at Kido's feet to fall asleep. Hibiya's legs hung over her and it took all of Konoha's strength to stop him from kicking the sleeping girl.

The movie ended not long after with only Kido, Ene, Konoha and Hibiya still awake so they all nodded at each other and settled in comfortably where they sat. Hibiya seemed to have tired himself out with his complaints and slept as soon as his head hit the cushions.

Konoha reached to turn off Shintaro's phone, though Ene calmly said, "Just leave it, it'll go on sleep by itself." He leaned back and closed his eyes while Kido surveyed the room with pride. This was her Mekakushi Dan and despite their differences, she really did love them all. She'd get the dishes done tomorrow.

Lying across the couch, she waited for sleep to come.

The all silent room alerted Kano's 'sleeping form' that everyone was finally asleep and he clambered up, gazing across the room at all the people he had gotten to know as the Dan.

All the people that made him feel like he was no longer alone.

Snickering quietly, he produced a pack of markers, reaching for Shintaro who was his first victim.

He'd have fun seeing their reactions in the morning.


	2. Hair Care Days

**A/N: **A little crack to keep the soul alive.

* * *

There was a thing about hair in the Mekakushi Dan.

Kido kept it well hidden in the confines of the Mekakushi Dan headquarters, with the unsuspecting members carrying out their days as usual, but they would know in due time that hair was very important. For once a month, the dan leader would walk out and casually _examine _every dan member's hair. If it were not satisfactory, then it would be an intensive day of hair treatment for each party involved.

Today was one of those days.

Seto tried in vain to hide a sleepy Mary in his closet early in the morning – because surely Kido would aim for the member with the most hair first – but nothing could be hidden from the leader and she soon found the squealing medusa in the closet not long after Seto also tried to help Kano escape the building.

Kido had figured out all of the possible escape routes though, and sealed them the night before. No-one was getting out of the house until the check was complete. Except Seto, because he had the keys.

Except Kido remembered she had taken his keys.

Eh, he could have them back when he needed to go to work. As for member number four… Mary had clutched her hair like a lifeline when Kido approached, but at the leader's orders, she sat her dainty self on a stool and let her hair fly free. It did too, waving every which way with a presence like no other.

"Sit still." Kido had demanded, more to the mass of hair than to Mary herself, taking a seat behind the fidgeting Mary and pulling out a large brush. She first ran her fingers through it, surprised to find nothing hidden in the mass of hair, but also relieved she wouldn't be digging through it like she was digging for buried treasure.

With long, firm strokes of the brush, Kido achieved the impossible – brushing Mary's hair quickly and efficiently – all without hurting her at all. Of course, somewhere along the line, Mary's hair had hissed at her, and she backed away like she was holding hot potatoes. Surely, her hair was fine and dandy enough to be alive, so Mary, the first contender, passed the test.

The members that didn't live with them had been discreetly advised by Seto over the phone to appear busy that day; "Sorry Kido, Momo's got a concert and I don't know what to say about Ene… Shintaro's just, busy, I guess? Hibiya's run off somewhere and Konoha's run off after him…" A polite way of dissuading Kido, yet her willpower was much too strong and Seto was much too eager to please, so it failed in more ways than one.

Because unfortunately for Seto, none of his efforts would be able to sway Kido from doing a full-on all-dan hair check.

Also unfortunately for Seto, Kido had her eyes on him next.

"Do you wash your hair every day?" She asked, picking meticulously at his bedhead and pulling out his hairclip to check more thoroughly. He was bending backwards on the couch uncomfortably, but Kido refused to let him sit properly until she was finished.

"When I can." Seto answered meekly, knowing full well he was pretty lazy – but at least he ran it through clean water, right? Nature's own cleansing medium! A flawless plan had he ever forget about Kido's monthly hair checks.

"Not good enough," was the leader's response. His hopes and dreams in the form of the earth's natural solvent were shattered. Kido stopped picking at the strands and ran a comb through his hair. "For the most part, it's okay though, because your hair is short."

"Really?" He beamed brightly, and it was full of such relief that Kido bit back anything else she was going to add. She could at least make an exception for Seto, she supposed, since he was the only one with a proper job around here anyway.

They couldn't rely on Momo too much, because Kido knew if she let the idol splurge on them, the amount of BL books for Mary would infinitely multiply and useless junk would start to pile in the form of Kano's many passing phases. Heck, the idol once tried renovating the headquarters while they were out so asking Momo to pay for _anything _without her permission was strictly banned. Even meals.

Especially meals, Kido shuddered in thought of Konoha.

"Alright, you pass." She added as an afterthought, slapping Seto confidently on the back to which he returned with a lot more force that he would've realised. There was probably a hand-shaped bruise on her back blooming right now. In a stern way, before Seto left the room, she said menacingly, "For now." Which sent him scurrying off immediately.

She probably wouldn't be seeing him for the rest of the day, if not week.

If he found his keys, that is.

Now it was time to hunt down Kano. Conveniently, he was raiding the fridge and causing a racket, which made for easy detection of the cat-eyed boy. Slamming the fridge in his face, she tugged on the corner of his despairingly long jacket. Had he grown at all in the past few years?

"Kano." Kido started, staring him down so he didn't try anything.

Kano grinned. "Why hello there, my monthly beautician, how can I help you?"

"Just stand still and be quiet." And surprisingly, he did. Kano seemed to enjoy being pampered, as Kido so remembered from past hair checks, and he also enjoyed getting hit afterwards. A spectacular specimen of a human being.

As she ran the brush through his hair one final time – it was perfect, golden, each strand falling just where it should – Kido nodded proudly. He better not have been deceiving that. Then she got Kano to face her, and just the sight of his uneven bangs began to piss her off.

"Did you try cutting your own hair again?" She grumbled, measuring it between her fingertips. She made a cutting gesture to the longer side, to which Kano immediately protested.

"It's style, my dear leader. All that's trending, if you must know. Surely, you still read those magazines, right?" He flicked the clump of hair falling to the side of his face and pouted, plunging his hands into his pockets. His boots were tapping annoyingly on the ground as Kido duly noted he had added a few inches to them, to appear even taller than usual. "Can I go now?"

She hit him once, in the stomach, for good measure. Also _what _magazines? If she hadn't had a mission to complete, she would've stayed longer to ask. "Okay, now you may leave." She spoke as if she held divine command, though in reality she was the first one to leave the kitchen. Quickly darting upstairs to change, Kido made her next destination known – the Kisaragi residence.

"I'll be back soon." She told Mary, the only one present to send her off. Kano had scampered off and Seto was now nowhere to be seen, so she saluted to Mary like she was going off on a long trip.

Mary nodded, waving at her merrily. "Have a nice time. Don't melt in the heat…"

And so off she went. When she rang the doorbell of the Kisaragis though, it was a good 5 minutes until she heard footsteps and another 10 before a dishevelled looking Momo appeared at the door. She looked like she had just been through a time-travelling washing machine. And her hair was sticking up everywhere.

"'Ey Leader." She greeted with a tired smile, before yawning. "What brings you here so early in the morning?"

"It's 11:30." Kido stated bluntly, before looking over the idol with a quick glance. "Didn't you have a concert?"

"A concer-oh. Oh yeah, yeah, I did." It just so happened that Momo was terrible at lying, even more so when she had just woken up, so the lie sailed over and Kido got down to business as fast as possible.

She took hold of the younger girl's side ponytail and gave it a tug, loosening it from its scrunchie so it all came tumbling down like rivets of orange snow. If that existed. "Hey!" Momo cried indignantly, but she let the leader do as she pleased.

Kido, however, was not pleased. If she thought Kano's uneven bangs were bad, Momo's had taken it to the next level. Her roots were brown, though most of her hair was some shade of yellow orange, and her bangs were quite literally a crooked zigzag across her face, ending with a long strand that went all the way down to her collarbone.

Then there was the hair that made up her previous ponytail, cascading down her back – but only for half of her head. Momo's hair was, in short, a mess.

The quality though, was tremendously good, beautifully silky, and shampoo commercial smooth which almost made up for the completely wacky style that was the idol's hair. But not quite.

"I don't know what to say." Kido stated solemnly after a moment of running her hands through Momo's hair and resisting the urge to sniff it. "I honestly have no idea what I'm supposed to say."

Momo shrugged. "Well, I should be saying that, I mean you show up at my house randomly and start touching my hair-"

"Hair check." Kido explained promptly, slightly embarrassed she had assumed the girl had known of it. "Mekakushi Dan tradition."

"Ohhh." Momo drawled, tapping a finger to her cheek. "That makes sense."

"Get your brother out here." Kido commanded, giving up on the idol's hair. It was a monster. Albeit a beautiful monster. Untouchable. "And Ene too."

"Onii-chan!" Momo turned to shout behind her, "Leader wants to see you! Bring Ene!"

There was a loud groan from somewhere within the house as Shintaro replied gruffly. "In a minute!" Though he clearly had no intention of moving.

"A minute's up!" Momo cried, mere seconds after the answer. "Come now!"

There's some high pitched wailing from Ene which finally forced Shintaro from his room, eyes meeting Kido's blankly, as if he doesn't want to offend her but he really doesn't want to see her there.

"Hey." He greeted shortly, but wasn't granted much of a reply as Kido dove straight to his hair.

Shintaro stumbled back in shock but let the leader continue, shooting Momo an incredulous look whenever he could. His sister shrugged, mouthing 'hair check' at him, to which he responded with a muddled expression.

When Kido moved away, her expression was flat. "You cut your own hair, don't you?"

The NEET, confused, only nodded. It seemed Kido wasn't aware of his scissor collection he had grown rather fond of over the years. "Sometimes? Yeah, why?"

"You need to be taken to a salon ASAP." She said, with a sort of motherly passive-aggression that had Shintaro and Momo both obediently nodding. Kido fished in her pocket for a moment, handing Shintaro a coupon. "Go there. Tell them I sent you. Because you need serious help."

Ene burst into laughter from the phone. "See what happens when you never go outside, Master? Your hair fails to meet dan expectations, and even Leader can't help you!"

"Shut up!" Shintaro argued, though he hung his head in resignation. "I'll uh, make use of this. Eventually."

"Good. I look forward to seeing the results." Kido stuck her other hand out expectantly, and he handed her the phone after looking at it for a good few seconds.

She gazed at the cyber girl who stared curiously back at her. "Ene, do a twirl or something." Was all Kido said, and Ene complied happily, twirling so her hair flew up and so Kido could take a look at the back of her head as well.

It took a moment, but Kido let out a small smile. "At least one of you is doing well. Ene passes."

Ene let out a whoop and the Kisaragi siblings only exchange a bewildered look – how could Kido even tell the state of Ene's hair? She was a bunch of pixels, for goodness' sake.

She bid the Kisaragis farewell, however, as she moved onto her next targets. Both Hibiya and Konoha should be in the Tateyama residence as she was last informed, and despite herself she still knew the directions to that house of red bricks as if she still lived there. As if _she, _the founding commander of the dan, still lived there.

She came at just the right time too, as Hibiya was hurtling out of the house yelling something along the lines of 'save Hiyori' again and Konoha was speeding (if a person could speed, that's what he was doing) right along after him.

It didn't take much to stop them.

Kido was not as rough as Momo when it came to dealing with Hibiya, so she merely tripped him as he blindly ran and Konoha immediately skidded to a halt in front of her – like a soldier would to their commander.

"Hair check." She stated outright, so that they knew what was going on, or at least had a vague idea. "Konoha, you're first. Squat down a little."

Konoha was forced to bend down as Kido went through his hair, pulling out his ponytail and running a small comb through it. It was odd, synthetic even, but clean and pristine, so he passed rather easily with flying colours.

"Why?" Konoha had asked simply, when she told him she was happy with the results.

"It looks like you've been taking good care of yourself." She replied, and Konoha tilted his head.

"Does eating good food make hair look nice?"

"I suppose so." Sometimes dealing with Konoha was like dealing with a child, and so she left him to ponder the subject on a spiritual level as she helped him tie his hair back up again.

Hibiya was still grumbling on the ground when she turned to him, and he only stiffened when she got closer. He didn't dare raise a rude tone against the leader of the Mekakushi Dan, but the frown on his face was fierce, and even as she helped him up, he continued to pull such a face.

It was hard trying to work with Hibiya, since the boy had seen far too much for his age, but Kido was determined to help him find a place in the dan. Even if it meant going a little, itty bit soft on him on the hair case. In the future, she promised she would be much more demanding. Hibiya's hair was quite a mess - it resembled a shrub of some kind she had seen Seto bring home when they were kids.

"Been washing your hair lately?" Kido asked, but it wasn't at all cruel.

Hibiya nodded slowly, in suspicion. "I guess. I mean, I don't pay that much attention to it but…"

"Do you brush your hair?"

"Yeah, well, no, not really..."

She raised a hand, and for a second he thought she was going to hit him but it went to pat him on the head. The hand stayed for a moment, ruffling his hair, before Kido pulled it back. "It seems to be fine." She concluded, sending the young boy a fond smile. "Keep doing what you're doing and it'll be fine."

Hibiya seemed to pause, as if in shock, but returned her smile slowly. "Okay. Okay, yeah, thanks."

Reverting back to her stern motherly persona, she pointed at the two of them accusingly. "Where were you running off to? You can't afford getting lost in the city, especially since you still don't know your way around."

"Following Hibiya." Konoha offered quietly, and Hibiya glared at him.

"It's nothing." He told Kido. "I just needed a break from this guy, but he keeps following me everywhere."

"Well," Kido nodded in understanding. "I'm done with the morning check so if you guys wanted, you could come have lunch with the rest of the dan at noon or so."

Konoha brightened at the mention of food. "We'll be there." He replied.

"Don't decide for me!" Hibiya scowled at him, but nodded, only a little grumpily. "We'll come. Why not?"

The dan leader smiled, "Alright. See you then."

"See you." They chorused, before Hibiya walked off steaming again and Konoha trailed after him like a dog.

Detouring back to the Kisaragis, she rang the bell again. Momo answered hastily, blinking in surprise to see Kido again so soon.

"Lunch at the HQ at 12." Kido said, before Momo could speak.

The idol grinned. "Sure, okay, can't miss a party like that. Sounds like fun!" And scurried back into her house not long after.

Finally, Kido returned home. As she opened the door, she met a long table spread out with food upon it, and the room was decorated nicely by the flowers Mary liked to make.

"What's all this?" She asked Seto, the closest, and he smiled. It seemed like he didn't run far, after all.

"Part of the tradition." He replied breezily, setting another plate by the table. "We figured we were going to invite the others if you didn't already, and have lunch together like we usually do."

"We couldn't make all of this though…" Mary told her sweetly, "So we did go and order some things. Kano's just out to pick them up."

Kido eyed the door warily for a moment, before Seto gave her one of his infamous pats on the back. Man, it still stung from the one he gave earlier, but she didn't bother to mention it.

"He'll be back before you know it!" He assured her, before taking off into the kitchen to do whatever Setos did in the kitchen.

As if on cue, Kano came waltzing into the room, setting boxes down on the table with a certain fluidity that was to be admired. "Happy Hair Care Day!" He cheered, and Mary cheered and from the kitchen, Seto's cheering could be heard too.

"Happy Hair Care Day." Kido let herself smile, before taking her seat at the end of the table – the all-powerful leader spot. She was tempted to put her legs upon the table and call them her minions; but she didn't. To herself, she mumbled happily of the tradition she had made, "Happy Hair Care Day."


End file.
